I did some work this week for a DP member who has not paid me. I'm going to give them another day or two, as I have had sudden cable Internet outages or medical emergencies to deal with and I know things come up where you can't get online to pay, but then I'm wondering if I should post with the person's DP user name if they end up not paying me at all to warn others. I see a few DP regulars responded to the person's request for writers, and I don't want anyone else to waste their time. Is there a policy against this on DP (posting user names of people who have not paid or scammed other members), or are warnings welcome? Another question - I'm thinking of recouping my time by packaging the articles I did for this person and selling them as PLR articles. Because they didn't pay for my work, I still own the copyright. Is there anything else I should consider doing with the articles that will still result in a little compensation (besides PLR)?
If he hasn't paid you then you should hold the copyright. Do not be too hasty though try sending an ultimatum before proceeding any further. If there is no response then exposing the name is recommended so that others do not get ripped. Get it touch with a mod as well. You can also check the profile stats to see when the user was online. ARonald
That's a great idea (checking the profile stats). I saw the person's last post, but did not know that I could check their last sign-on. This whole thing is mostly my own fault for not getting paid up front. I am new to DP so I thought I would make it a less risky transaction for the person. The agreement was I would give them half of their articles, they would pay me, and then I would send the other four. I sent the first half of the articles and have heard nothing since, after getting e-mails back from the person within minutes of sending them up until I delivered the first batch. So it seems shady, but like I said, I myself have had cable problems, emergencies, etc. that prevented me from getting online when I needed to, so I will not be too hasty.
I think you should wait and giv them another 24 hours. Sometimes it happens that due some problems people are not able to make timely payments. Also you should check for i Traders before dealing with anyone.
Thanks, Fisker. I am going to give them another day or two. Like I said, I understand that sometimes things come up. It just seems suspicious because the day the articles were due, we wrote back and forth several times because I had questions. Every time I wrote, the person wrote back within minutes. As soon as I sent the articles, I got no response and have not heard from the person since Wednesday.
If you haven't been paid, you still own the work no matter what. I would suggest a final warning, stating the exact measures you intend to take before going ahead and doing it. Too many people come up with excuses too often - it's amazing the number of hospital appointments, storms, and car accidents that happen round about payment time...
You can also leave negative iTrader for them. It's a system to let others know the reputation of the member. I would say give them another two days and check when is the last time they came online. Then send a warning PM and read the receipt. If they decided to ignore your PM while they also came online then do the harsh measure.
Double check your email message to make sure there was nothing wrong on your part, e.g. sent to the wrong address, no files attached, etc. You have a few alternatives as far as making money from the articles. You could: 1. sell them as PLR 2. sell them for a higher price with exclusive rights 3. auction them off 4. give them away as a promotion 5. use them as content on one of your own sites (if you have a site in that niche). What you end up doing will depend on the amount the client owes you. I'd take a different course of action for $20 than I would for, say, $100, or even $50! You know? I wouldn't let the client just have the articles if all he owed was $20, but I might not put him on blast either. Just give him a negative rep or iTrader or both and move along. Some other people suggested doing a little investigation work to find out if the member has been back online. You could also do a search on that member's name to see if someone else has made a similar complaint. Look at his/her iTrader, maybe it has a negative item in it about non-received payments. Then again, maybe it doesn't. Copyscape your articles every so often to make sure they aren't being used. I usually give people a week to pay me before I start sending "threatening" messages. Then I typically give them another week before I take action like I promised. I had one experience where the client didn't respond or pay by the time allotted. I ended up just sitting on the article because I was too busy to do anything else with it at the time. Well, four months later the client emerges and turns out he was going through a life crisis. He paid me and went on to order more articles.
Keep trying to communicate with the person. I'd wait at least a week before even thinking of mentioning their name. Any less and it's really you that looks foolish, because not everyone sits by their computer daily waiting for whatever. This is a great case for getting paid first. After it's been a week without any "real" contact, start moving forward since you don't know the client well.